At Last the 1948 Show
A satirical sketch show bridging Cambridge Footlights and Monty Python.
At Last the 1948 Show is a satirical television programme produced by David Frost's Paradine Productions in association with Rediffusion London, transmitted on Britain's ITV network in 1967. It brought Cambridge Footlights humour to a broader audience and featured future Monty Python founders Graham Chapman and John Cleese among its cast and writers.
Quick Facts
- Runtime
- 25 minutes
- Creator
- Tim Brooke-Taylor
- Graham Chapman
- John Cleese
- Marty Feldman
- Starring
- Tim Brooke-Taylor
- John Cleese
- Graham Chapman
- Marty Feldman
- Aimi MacDonald
- Country
- United Kingdom
- Network
- ITV
- First aired
- 15 February 1967
- Last aired
- 7 November 1967
- Series
- 2
Facts from the source article.
History
David Frost recruited John Cleese, Graham Chapman, and Tim Brooke-Taylor to appear in a sketch show. The trio then brought in Marty Feldman, who had previously worked only as a comedy writer. This series served as a link between the radio program I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again and the television shows Monty Python's Flying Circus and The Goodies. It also spawned Feldman's own television series Marty, which included Tim Brooke-Taylor. The show dropped the usual format of mixing comedy sketches with musical numbers. It still relied on punchlines, a device Monty Python's Flying Circus would later often discard. New takes on "Door to Door Undertaker" and "Memory Training Course" were recorded for that album but left off the final release; they later surfaced on the widely bootlegged Hastily Cobbled Together for a Fast Buck album. "Psychiatrist," "Tea Boy on a Mission," and "Grublian Holidays" were later performed again by The Two Ronnies. The famous Monty Python catchphrase "And now for something completely different," which parodies a line often used on Blue Peter, first appeared in At Last the 1948 Show and was spoken by Aimi MacDonald, who played a dumb blonde character.
List of episodes
The series aired at different times and on different dates across ITV regions, with some regions not broadcasting it at all. Unless noted, the transmission details given here are for the London ITV area, which was served by Rediffusion. All thirteen episodes survive as audio recordings, with only a few short gaps. These recordings have been used to determine the original sketch order for complete episodes. The first series was not broadcast in the Granada region. In that region, each episode aired three days later than the London date, at 10:30 in the evening.
Frequently Asked Questions
When did At Last the 1948 Show first air?
At Last the 1948 Show first aired on 15 February 1967.
When did At Last the 1948 Show end?
At Last the 1948 Show last aired on 7 November 1967.
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